Guidance

Number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases and risk in the UK

The latest number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases and risk level in the UK.

Published 24 January 2020
Last updated 5 May 2020 — see all updates
From:
Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England

Stay at home to stop coronavirus spreading.

Read more about what you need to do.

Video: How to wash your hands properly

Number of cases and deaths

As of 9am on 5 May, there have been 1,383,842 tests, with 84,806 tests on 4 May.

1,015,138 people have been tested, of whom 194,990 tested positive.

As of 5pm on 4 May, of those tested positive for coronavirus in the UK, 29,427 have died. This new figure includes deaths in all settings, not just in hospitals. The equivalent figure under the old measure would have been 24,735.

Tests People tested Positive Deaths in hospitals Deaths in all settings
Daily 84,806 69,839 4,406 403 693
Total 1,383,842 1,015,138 194,990 24,735 29,427

Breakdown of testing by 3 of the testing strategy ‘pillars’

Daily

Pillar 1 Pillar 2 Pillar 4 Total
People tested 24,941 44,898 - 69,839
Tests 26,866 51,181 6,759 84,806
Positive 2,203 2,203 - 4,406

Cumulative

Pillar 1 Pillar 2 Pillar 4 Total
People tested 655,790 359,348 - 1,015,138
Tests 842,903 513,153 27,786 1,383,842
Positive 155,567 39,423 - 194,990

Pillar 2 breakdown of test types

In-person (tests processed) Delivery (tests sent out) Total tests
Daily 41,127 10,054 51,181
Cumulative 326,207 186,946 513,153
  • Pillar 1: swab testing in PHE labs and NHS hospitals for those with a clinical need, and health and care workers
  • Pillar 2: swab testing for health, social care and other essential workers and their households
  • Pillar 4: serology and swab testing: a national surveillance programme supported by PHE, ONS and Biobank to learn more about the prevalence and spread of the virus

See the government’s national testing strategy for more information on the different pillars.

See a time series of daily deaths: 5 May 2020 (CSV, 2.53KB)

5 May notes

The daily total for tests is 7,445 lower than the difference between today and yesterday’s cumulative totals. This is due to:

  • A historical revision of Pillar 1 tests in England, accounting for 1,897 of the difference;
  • From 4 May, swab tests from the ONS COVID-19 Infection Survey are counted under Pillar 4 and not Pillar 2. Tests already processed under Pillar 2 remain in that total and are not included in Pillar 4 totals. Swabs that were previously sent out but have not yet been processed are now recorded in the Pillar 4 cumulative numbers and not in Pillar 2. This accounts for 5,073 of the difference;
  • Blood tests from the ONS Covid-19 Infection Survey are now included under Pillar 4. This includes 475 tests from previous days that are included in the cumulative total but are not in the daily figure.

Today’s cumulative and daily tests figures also include 5,000 tests that were despatched under Pillar 4 for research purposes but were not included in the daily figures at the time. These tests were despatched to a research facility on Thursday 30 April and are now being distributed to individuals as part of the overall study.

Tests under pillar 4 are conducted for research purposes and not for the purposes of providing results to individuals (although some individuals do receive results). Research tests are undertaken for a range of purposes from monitoring prevalence rates to understanding individual behaviours and responses to testing. These numbers include both tests that are conducted through the lab and tests that are sent out for home delivery or to independent research facilities.

General notes

Data on UK positive and negative tests and data on deaths is updated on this page daily at 2pm or shortly after. The figures for test results and for deaths are compiled from different sources. This is why the figures for deaths are reported from an earlier point in time than the figures for test results.

For clinical reasons some people are tested more than once. Therefore the number of tests completed may be higher than the number of people tested. For serology testing (Pillar 4), some protocols allow for samples to be tested repeatedly. Samples are anonymised prior to sending to the lab for testing, therefore the identification of individuals tested is not possible in the current reporting process, and so the number of people tested is not reported.

Daily totals reflect actual counts reported for the previous day. Each day there may be corrections to previous reported figures. This means that previously published daily counts will not necessarily sum to the latest cumulative figure. It also means that today’s cumulative count may not match the previous day’s cumulative count plus today’s daily count.

The number of tests includes:

  • tests processed through our labs
  • tests sent to individuals at home or to satellite testing locations

From 29 April, the daily count of deaths covers all settings, not just those in hospital. The equivalent count under the previous measure is provided under ‘deaths in hospital’. This does include some deaths outside hospital in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Notes on deaths figures

From 29 April, figures for deaths include all cases where there is a positive confirmed test for coronavirus. The figures include deaths with lab-confirmed COVID-19 in all settings, not just those in hospital, and this provides us with a single figure on an equivalent basis for the whole of the UK.

These UK figures are compiled from validated data provided by each of the four nations of the UK. Figures from Health Protection Scotland, Public Health Wales and the Public Health Agency (Northern Ireland) have always included tested cases outside hospital. Figures for England from 29 April onwards are provided by Public Health England and draw together several different data sources, including data from NHS England and Improvement, to produce this broader measure.

This approach allows us to compile deaths data on a daily basis using up-to-date figures across all settings. The data includes deaths with lab-confirmed COVID-19 reported as at 5pm the previous day. The amount of time between occurrence of death and reporting in these figures may vary slightly and in some cases could be a few days, so figures at 5pm may not include all deaths for that day. The PHE method draws on data from 3 data sources and individual records of deaths are included in the figures as soon as they are available in any of these 3 sources.

In rare instances, the daily count under the new measure may be lower than the old measure because some hospital deaths in the hospital-only data will include individuals who have already been included in the composite count. Individual deaths have already been reported in the PHE series on previous days.

In addition to these figures, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes weekly counts of deaths in which COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate. This publication is issued every Tuesday, starting on 31 March 2020. The ONS series includes cases in all settings, and also includes some cases where COVID-19 is suspected but no test has taken place. ONS detailed data covers England and Wales only, but from 28 April their publication includes a headline summary of registered deaths in the whole of the UK. Their report each Tuesday covers deaths registered up to 11 days before publication.

Joint DHSC and ONS transparency statement about COVID deaths figures

Material published by PHE

PHE updates a daily dashboard to show trends in UK data on positive tests and deaths and to provide confirmed cases in each local authority and NHS region in England.

Risk level

The risk to the UK has been raised to high.

Published 24 January 2020
Last updated 5 May 2020 + show all updates

  1. Updated figures.

  2. Updated figures.

  3. Updated figures.

  4. Updated on 2 May with daily figures

  5. Updated figures.

  6. Updated figures.

  7. Updated with figures reported on 29 April, including deaths in all settings, and updated notes on reporting of deaths figures. Figures for 30 April will follow later today.

  8. Updated figures.

  9. Updated figures.

  10. Updated figures.

  11. Updated figures.

  12. Updated figures.

  13. Updated figures.

  14. Updated figures.

  15. Updated figures.

  16. Updated figures.

  17. Updated figures

  18. Updated figures

  19. Updated figures

  20. Updated figures.

  21. Updated figures.

  22. Updated figures.

  23. Updated figures.

  24. Updated figures

  25. Changed the total number of tests concluded from 352,974 to 350,575. The updated figure only includes tests carried out under pillars 1 and 2 of the government’s national testing strategy

  26. In breakdown by pillar section, corrected total people tested figure in cumulative table

  27. Updated figures

  28. Updated figures.

  29. Updated figures and included breakdown of people tested under pillars 1 and 2 of the government's national testing strategy.

  30. Updated figures.

  31. Updated figures and added figures table.

  32. Updated figures.

  33. Updated figures to include cumulative tests.

  34. Updated figures

  35. Updated figures

  36. Updated daily figures

  37. Updates figures for testing

  38. Updated figures.

  39. Added information on how figures for deaths are compiled and reported.

  40. Updated figures.

  41. Updated figures.

  42. Updated figures.

  43. Updated figures.

  44. Updated figures.

  45. Updated figures. From today, 26 March 2020, recorded deaths will be as of 5pm the previous day.

  46. Update to the figures for testing in UK

  47. Updated figures.

  48. Updated test result figures.

  49. updated figures.

  50. updated figures.

  51. Updated figures on test results.

  52. Added updated figures.

  53. Updated figures and time

  54. Updated test figures

  55. Updated figures.

  56. Updated figures on test results.

  57. Updated figures.

  58. Updated test result figures.

  59. Update on case numbers, those who have tested positive and those who have sadly died.

  60. Updated numbers.

  61. Updated test result figures.

  62. The UK risk level has been raised to high.

  63. Added new guidance for people with symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19).

  64. Updated test result figures.

  65. Update to figures.

  66. Updated figures.

  67. Updated Italy advice.

  68. Updated figures.

  69. "to be determined" figures corrected - from 22 to 20.

  70. Updated lockdown areas.

  71. Regions updated.

  72. updated figures.

  73. Now with regional breakdown

  74. Update on stats and switch to 7am to improve reporting. Regionalised data to be published later today

  75. Updated test result figures.

  76. Updated returning traveller advice for Italy.

  77. Added updated figures for test results, including number of cases in each NHS England region.

  78. Updated test result figures.

  79. Updated figures for tests

  80. Added updated figures on UK test results.

  81. Updated figures.

  82. Updated stats and also made clear from now on stats will be accurate as of 0900 that day for consistency and accuracy.

  83. Updated figures.

  84. Updated figures.

  85. Updated figures.

  86. Updated test result figures.

  87. Updated advice for returning travellers.

  88. Updated test result figures.

  89. Updated figures.

  90. Updated numbers.

  91. Update to test figures

  92. Updated test figures.

  93. Updated daily figures on test results.

  94. Updated daily figures on test results.

  95. Updated figures.

  96. Daily update to testing numbers.

  97. Updated figures.

  98. Updated test result figures.

  99. Updated test result figures.

  100. Updated figures.

  101. Updated figures for those tested in the UK.

  102. Updated figures for those tested in UK

  103. Updated statistics on coronavirus tests.

  104. Fourth case of coronavirus in England

  105. Updated test figures

  106. Updated figures for coronavirus checks and removal figures of passengers returned from Wuhan as all are outside the incubation period.

  107. Updated advice from the Chief Medical Officer.

  108. Updated figures

  109. Updated figures - no new cases

  110. Updated advice for travellers

  111. Added link to FCO travel advice for British nationals.

  112. Updated test figures – no further positive cases.

  113. Added Northern Ireland contact number for those who have returned from Wuhan or Hubei Province in the last 14 days, or from elsewhere in China and have developed symptoms.

  114. updated figures - no new cases

  115. Updated figures - no new cases.

  116. Updated test figures – no further positive cases.

  117. Added coronavirus public information video.

  118. Updated the advice for travellers from China.

  119. Updated test figures.

  120. Update regarding first confirmed cases of coronavirus in England.

  121. Addition of CMO statement

  122. Updated information on risk level

  123. Updated figures – no confirmed cases

  124. Updated figures - no confirmed cases.

  125. Updated figures - no confirmed cases

  126. Updated advice for travellers from Wuhan.

  127. Updated advice for travellers from Wuhan.

  128. Updated test figures - no confirmed cases

  129. Updated figures - no confirmed cases.

  130. Tests figure update - no confirmed cases.

  131. Updated advice

  132. First published.

Contents

Related content